Gemma Riggs

Gemma Riggs is a London-based artist and filmmaker. Her practice is informed by theatre, performance and documentary, exploring ideas of fragmentation in relation phenomenological experience and memory. She has a dedicated community practice and is passionate about extending the reach of her work to collaborate with artists and non-artists alike.

Working mostly in film, video, and photography, Gemma’s work investigates how image might exist within space and constructed environments. Having collaborated in the fields of theatre and live visuals for over ten years; space and performance have become important aspects of her work. Gemma works to explore the boundaries between performer and audience, artist and viewer and how this may be played with through the arrangement of objects and image within space.

In 2014 Gemma was awarded an Arts Council grant to produce a new participatory artwork in collaboration with Choreographer Laura Murphy and Sound Artist JJ Maurage. The resulting work, which was made with local people, culminated in a multi-screen, site-specific installation in Folkestone Harbour and was part of the Folkestone Fringe 2014.

In 2012/13 she participated in E-Motional Bodies and Cities: a series of Artist Research-based residencies that brought visual artists and dance artists together from around Europe. Through this programme, she met Choreographer Laura Murphy, with whom she has developed an on-going collaborative and interdisciplinary practice. Their work has been exhibited internationally and has been screened at festivals throughout Europe.

Gemma is an established filmmaker and has been commissioned by artists and organisations including the Barbican, Southbank Centre, Battersea Arts Centre, Shlomo and Melanie Wilson. She has worked as a VJ for over ten years and has mixed live visuals for musicians and spoken word artists at festivals and concerts.

Gemma studied her BA at Wimbledon School of Art and has recently completed an MA in Fine Art with distinction from the University for the Creative Arts.